Donnington Race Event

The final round of the season was held at the fast and flowing Donington Park circuit.  As I'd never driven the track before we arrived on Friday afternoon and had a some practice laps.  Despite only managing a couple of 8 lap runs, I was happy with my performance and with the times I set.  Lots of cars pushed too hard and ended up being towed out of the gravel - much to everyone's frustration. 

The growing reputation and support the BRSCC Porsche Championship is attracting meant we had allocated pit garages which were our base for the weekend. 

Saturday Qualifying
The track was very busy with 26 cars trying to set fast time and some ending up in the gravel causing yellow flags!  Towards the end of the session I got three clear laps going faster each time to qualify 9th on the grid. This was my best so far and ahead of more experienced drivers and professionally prepared cars. 

Saturday Race 1
We made ride height and tyre pressure changes before the race in an attempt to improve braking into the final chicane and keep my tyres from overheating.  I got a great start, however my first three laps were poor and I was not able to push confidently.  I had to focus on the car behind which was faster in the final sector and over the start line.  We had  great battle for position until the race was red flagged due to a liquid spill a few laps short.

Sunday Race 2
On Sunday morning thick fog had descended delaying all racing until lunchtime.  A hastily revised timetable gave use two 13min races which was much more than expected. After resetting the changes we had made previously I felt a bit more confident to push hard from the start and made sure I got lots of heat into the tyres on the green flag lap.  I again made a good start and took places from cars which ran wide at the first turn.  Whilst they re-took the position within a couple of laps, my times were fast and I was re-catching them until I made some mistakes and had to drop back as my tyres started to over heat slightly.  Although I finished 11th, being just 1sec a lap down on the mid Boxster pack was a great result.

Sunday Race 3
To create a season finale spectacle the grid was reversed by class for race 3!  I started on the 2nd row, but made an average start.

The race result was no different as the faster cars all passed me, but I had a great battle defending 9th position robustly as the light faded at the end of the race.  I couldn't quite hold on and lost out on the penultimate lap finishing 10th.

Performance Improvements

My race finishing positions have fluctuated over the three race event weekends we have entered, however most of the positions gained on Class-A Boxsters have been through others failing to finish.  This in one way is good, since reliability rewards, but in another it hides the ultimate performance difference between us and the front runners.

There is however a measured performance improvement when you consider our lap times vs the front running cars.  

We are getting closer to the back of the main pack of Class-A Boxsters which typically contend the top ten places each race.

In the first race at Snetterton in April we were 12% slower on our fastest lap of the race (2m 44.7s) than the fastest time set (2m 27.1s) and we were running 6% (73kg) heavier than the  minimum weight. The race was spent in amongst the the front 924 drivers.

By the second race at Rockingham in August we were only 4% slower on our fastest lap of the race (1m 46.3s) than the fastest time set (1m 42.0s) and we were running only 3% (33Kg) over the weight limit.  In the race we matched the Class-B front running Boxsters.

The Performance graph (right ) shows the progress we have made in closing the gap to the front runners in the series and a notional target - which is to be in the middle of the Class-A Boxster pack!

Rockingham Race Event

After a very early start on Saturday we arrived at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby an hour before scrutineering. The US Style Oval track is dominated by the huge wrap-around grandstand seating on one side, with the paddock and in-field track section in the middle.  This is where we setup.

Qualifying
I had never been to the track before, so initially I had to let some slower cars past whilst I got used to the track layout. Watching YouTube on-board videos can only help so much!
As my confidence and speed increased, I tagged onto the back of some front running cars for the last couple of laps and set what I considered a respectable time.  I was still 2+ seconds slower than the main pack of Class-A Boxsters and slower than the Class-B (Production) front runners too.

Race 1
The outside temperature soared as the day went on, and the inside of a race car was not the ideal place to be at 2pm on the hottest day of the year so far.  We were held in the assembly for what seemed an eternity, before going out onto the track.  

I got a poor start off the line, but made up 3 places going round outside of the 1st hairpin turn. I just about kept pace with the pack of cars I was in, but within 2-3 laps they had re-past me. 

 

Half way into the 20 minute race my pace dropped as the car was sliding more in the corners and braking from 125mph down to 40mph at the end of the banked-straight took its toll on the brakes and tyres. The last few laps couldn't come soon enough as I was tiring rapidly and overheating inside the car.  I finished where I qualified 14th of 22.     

Race 2
On Sunday the temperature was again in the high 20's and we dropped our tyre pressures significantly to prevent the over-heating that happened in Race 1. I also drank several litres of water to prevent me overheating this time too!  When the lights went out - I got a better start off the line, but was tentative through the banked 1st corner and lost 3 places.

I managed to stay within a second of the cars in front of me for the whole of the race.  This time my lap times were more consistent and even improving despite the temperatures outside and inside the car.  On the last lap I overtook the Boxster in front, however made a big mistake into the next corner, running very wide and almost going off, giving the place back. 

Whilst I finished in the same overall place as Race 1 - I was happy given the continuing improvements and the fact we'd never even seen the circuit before qualifying. 

Brands Hatch Races on YouTube

Coverage of the two Sunday races from the Brands Hatch round we took part in are now available on YouTube.

Going on a diet

Before our next race at the Rockingham International Speedway in August we  are looking  seriously at weight savings.  All of the front running cars are below the minimum weight and carry ballast.  At Brands Hatch we were still weighing in at 1360Kg's including driver at the end of the race (although we did overfill with fuel for one race which didn't help).  This was 60Kg's over the minimum weight and is costing 1-2 seconds per lap based on our track day experiences with 1 vs 2 people in the car.

In order to level the performance across the different Boxster 3.2S model years / engines (250-280 BHP) the regulations have also recently been adjusted and we now need to target 1280Kg's as the minimum weight for our 2001 250 BHP model. So now even more stuff needs removing!

Hardtop and Trim

The hardtop roof still had the full head lining and plastic trim pieces in so these were removed. We also removed more plastic trim from inside the car, including the centre console plastic and the heater blower motor.

Air-con

The original air conditioning compressor was next to be removed. This required changing the ancillary drive belt for a shorter non-air-con model one.  The belt change was straightforward but removing the compressor itself took several hours.  The bolts holding the compressor in place are easy to remove, but the metal pipework connections are obstructed by the intake manifold and were extremely tight.  There is some pipework running under the car still to be removed when time permits.

Battery
The heavy duty Bosch S5 battery weighs 17KG's and is high up under the windscreen.  A light weight replacement (Odyssey 30 Racing @9Kg's) has been purchased and relocated lower down on the floor of the front boot.

Windows

With the door glass in the "door-open" position (it drops by 1" to clear the rubber seals) the electric window motors and and mechanism have been disconnected and removed along with the associated wiring. 

The glass itself is being replaced with light weight Polycarbonate (plastic) with sliding vents.

Brands Hatch Race Event

Our second race event was at the famous Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent on the 9th & 10th of June. Leaving home at 5am Saturday morning we arrived and setup in the paddock. After signing-on and scrutineering we headed out for qualifying.

The last time I drove the circuit was over two years ago when the car was in standard road form so I took most of the 15 minute qualifying session to get up to speed setting a best time of 58.5 seconds - good for 15th on a nearly full grid of 30 cars.  This was 4 secs slower than pole position, but a full 10 seconds faster than I'd ever been before. This was also my first experience of the Toyo 888 tyres in the dry. 

In the first race I got a great start, holding my position round paddock hill and up to the druids hairpin. Unfortunately several cars went off track later in the lap and in avoiding them I was overtaken by 4 or 5 924 drivers. My race didn't get much better as I ended up with some minor front wing damage from an aborted overtake at Druids. This knocked out my ABS and later in the race I lost the rear of the car at the bottom of paddock hill, spinning a full 360 degrees.  I finished a disappointing 19th which would affect my grid position for Race 2.

On Sunday the forecast rain held off for Race 2. Multiple cars went off at Paddock hill bend and were damaged which resulted in several laps behind the safety car.  I managed to get past a few of the 924's and was promoted to 9th position overall due to some blatant jump starts from several cars in front of me on the grid.

For Race 3 on Sunday afternoon it start to drizzle with rain as a depleted grid lined up. Before the race I took some advice on passing slower cars from the more experience drivers and quickly passed the 924 cars - lining each pass up one lap at a time.  I was lapping consistently and catching the Boxster in front of me however had to yield to blue flags to allow the leaders to lap me. In the end I ran out of time (and nearly fuel!) to close in - finishing an excellent 10th.